Just Received My New Radeon X850 XT Card

Question

Level 3

515 points

Just Received My New Radeon X850 XT Card

Hi,

I just received my new Radeon X850 XT Video Card. I'm previously upgrading from a X800 XT and both of the cards looks identical. The only visible difference is the OEM (X850 XT) has a couple stickers on the back of the card. I don't have Halo or Doom 3 so I can't test this card to its full capabilities. I normally play Age of Mythology and Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour. As of yet no problems encountered. ATI display does not pick up the video card.

Here is a comparison between the two cards.

ATI Radeon X800 XT (Mac Edition)
Card # : 109-A35800-00
Card Model : ATY,R420
Vendor ID : $1002 (4098)
Rom # : 113-A35801-109
Fcode Version : 5.0
NDRV Version : 1.0.1f47
VRAM Size : 256MB

ATI Radeon X850 XT (OEM)
Card # : 109-A35800-00
Card Model : ATY,R481
Vendor ID : $1002 (4098)
Rom Name : ATY, Piranha_A
Rom # : 113-A35804-108
FCode Version : 1.95
NDRV Version : 1.0.1f57
VRAM Size: 256MB

Posted on Jul 15, 2005 10:12 AM

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Answer 1

BillF

Level 3

649 points

Jul 22, 2005 9:28 PM in response to Q-Tip

Out of curiosity, how did you get an OEM X850 XT card? I thought they were only available as a CTO option from the online Apple Store. Are they being sold online now, or was this an aftermarket ATI card that was labelled only for the PC? Thanks.

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Answer 2

Q-Tip Author

Level 3

515 points

Jul 22, 2005 9:33 PM in response to BillF

I purchased the card from CGNUSA.com They are a Apple parts specialist. I was amazed at how much parts you can purchased from them. The Apple part number for the X850 XT is 661-3594.

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Answer 3

Jul 23, 2005 6:20 AM in response to Q-Tip

Hello Q-Tip,

I got my new Power Mac 2 weeks ago and I ordered it with the X850 XT. But I wonder if there are any graphic card drivers out there for this card?

I primarily work in 3D animation software, but I don't notice big speed bumps to the Radeon 9650!!! The Cinebench 2003 shows something about 5.5 in the OpenGL performance, while Top PCs with an x800 get something about 11!

Could you run the Test on your system and tell me, if it's doing better?
You can download the test at:
http://www.cinebench.com/

FYI: I called Apple Customer Care and asked about drivers, they handed me over to ATI, because Apple don't have any special drivers besides the 10.4.2 update. But ATI said, it's not an ATI Card, it's an Apple Card, so they have to deliver the drivers.
The X850 seems to be an overclocked X800, but ATI don't recommend to use the X800 drivers.

Hendrik

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Answer 4

Q-Tip Author

Level 3

515 points

Jul 23, 2005 4:15 PM in response to Hendrik Pieta

Here is the results I got on Cinebench.

C4D Shading : 338 CB-GFX
OpenGL SW-L : 990 CB-GFX
OpenGL HW-L : 1717 CD-GFX

OpenGL Speedup : 5.08x

I mainly use the card for gaming and notice a big difference over my 9600xt.

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Answer 5

Jul 23, 2005 6:57 PM in response to Hendrik Pieta

I ran it on my 2.7 GHz G5, 3 GB ram and a retail ATI X800 XT with these results:

CINEBENCH 2003 v1
**************************************************

Tester : X

Processor : PowerMac G5
MHz : 2.7
Number of CPUs : 2
Operating System : 10.4.2

Graphics Card : ATI X800 XT
Resolution : 1900 x 1200
Color Depth : 32

**************************************************

Rendering (Single CPU): 384 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 641 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.67

Shading (CINEMA 4D) : 357 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Software Lighting) : 1028 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Hardware Lighting) : 1809 CB-GFX

OpenGL Speedup: 5.06

**************************************************

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Answer 6

Leonard

Level 4

1,705 points

Jul 25, 2005 11:03 AM in response to Hendrik Pieta

You should see a huge difference between a Radeon 9650 and a Radeon X850XT. The question is whether you're looking for the performance in the right area. Some people expect it to show up in the rendering which is CPU intensive, not GPU intensive. It shows up in the screen drawing - ie. in games it shows up as improvment in the screen frames per second.

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Answer 7

Jul 28, 2005 4:19 AM in response to Q-Tip

Hey all. Has anyone located the driver for the x850Card? I can't get my G5 to output to my Apple display, and Apple and ATI have been of no help.

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Answer 8

Jul 28, 2005 5:51 AM in response to Peter Hitchcock1

Did your computer come with the X850 or did you buy an after market one? If it came with your computer the drivers are already installed. Have you tried both DVI ports?

If it was an after market purchase was it a Mac version? The PC version won't work with a Mac without flashing the firmware.

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Answer 9

Jul 28, 2005 6:03 AM in response to Peter Hitchcock1

Just read your other post where you say the card works with another monitor. You have drivers installed that support the card. Try resetting PRAM ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238).

If that doesn't work try starting up in safe mode ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393) and set your resolution to one compatible with the display.

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Answer 10

Jul 28, 2005 7:51 AM in response to Martin Pace

The X850XT was installed by Apple. Their store lists it. Dont know if you can buy it from any where else. ATI doesnt sell it.
Peter

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Answer 11

Jul 28, 2005 7:54 AM in response to Martin Pace

It only has one DVI port and one ADC port.
I really wanted to run the new monitor on the DVI and hookup an old CRT monitor. But I dont have a ADC adapter only a DVI adapter.

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Answer 12

Jul 28, 2005 8:21 AM in response to Martin Pace

Thanks Martin I held down the Option Apple PR for three bells. I was told by Apple to do that but no luck I'll try the next step by hooking up an older monitor to see the monitor settings.
Peter

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Answer 13

Jul 30, 2005 2:15 PM in response to Martin Pace

I saw this thread and am having similar issues. I just got (2 days now) a 2.7 G5 with an x850 card direct from apple store. I can't get it to work with an apple cinema 23HD. The display works fine with my g4 laptop, but on the G5 it's just black. The DVI-VGA adapter works with an older monitor, but nothing makes the 23" work. I called apple. They had not even heard of the X850 yet. We zaped PRAM and booted from safe mode. No luck. They are sending a new card out, but I don't have much luck that will fix the problem. Any ideas here? I downloaded all the recent Apple updates and still nothing. I'm baffled.

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Answer 14

macreal

Level 1

20 points

Sep 4, 2005 9:59 AM in response to Martin Pace

This is my G5's test result. my ATI is 9650 and it is just little slower
than X800. what's happen? i recently try to purchase 7800.
but apple have no plan to make this. so i give up and going to ATI.
however...if this result is right, this means that X800 is no worth to buy.
Is my test was worng?

CINEBENCH 2003 v1
**************************************************

Tester : mac

Processor : mac's g5
MHz : 2.7
Number of CPUs : 2
Operating System : MacOSX10.4.2

Graphics Card : ATI 9650
Resolution : 1920 X 1200
Color Depth : 32

**************************************************

Rendering (Single CPU): 387 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 659 CB-CPU

Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.70

Shading (CINEMA 4D) : 366 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Software Lighting) : 1011 CB-GFX
Shading (OpenGL Hardware Lighting) : 1696 CB-GFX

OpenGL Speedup: 4.64

**************************************************

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Answer 15

macreal

Level 1

20 points

Sep 4, 2005 1:02 PM in response to macreal

sorry correct for 7800 -> 8700. it's GeForce.

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